


Aftermath

by Mayorofcattown



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 01:51:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4900951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayorofcattown/pseuds/Mayorofcattown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The short cut home that took Tanuma much longer than he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posting this from ff.net mostly to figure out how this site actually works. I did make some minor changes to it, tho the plot is the same, I just made updated it to make the writing marginally less awful. And to add more puns.

I shouldn’t have been walking home so late.

I should’ve gone home at least an hour before, but I hadn't. I’d gotten caught up with a teacher, and lost track of time. I should’ve just left when I had the chance, I mean, sure I’d missed a lot of this class, but Kitamoto’s pretty good at maths, he could probably have caught me up on it, I didn’t really need to talk to ask the teacher about it.

But I am so, _so_ glad I did.

I don’t know if I would have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t.

* * *

 Natsume had protested against me using the shortcut through the forest a fair few times, but it was late, I was exhausted, my dad was probably worried... I just wanted to get _home_. And as much as I knew there were a lot of spirits in the area, they’d never caused me any trouble before, and the few ones I could see seemed friendly enough. It couldn’t be that bad?

(It was.)

As soon as I set foot in the forest, my head was throbbing. It wasn’t particularly strong, not at first. It was not the normal constant thrum of pain I was used to. No, it was less of a colossal weight on my skull as it was a wrench slowly fastening my head taught.

In spite of the pain I managed to open my eyes just a little. At the very least I should try and see where the spirit was, to get a better sense of it. And I caught sight of it immediately. Well, at least by my definition of sight, which was a massive shadowy blob among the trees several metres away. And it was getting bigger. Actually, no, it wasn’t physically changing at all, but something about it seemed to- grow?

The shadows around it were swelling with my headaches, swarming around something in front of it- No, not something, someone. Someone was standing in front of that _thing_ , trying to-

Oh no.

It was Natsume.

It was Natsume. He was there, facing that- that huge, growing thing.

His name, I cried out his name. His head bolted around, and his eyes latched onto mine. Even as far away as I was I could still see his body go rigid at the sight of me. Like he was more scared of me, of me being there, than of that- that- that-

And then suddenly he wasn’t. His whole body went limp. He was on the ground. He wasn’t moving. I wasn’t moving. I yelled.

But my voice was caught by the torrential gale that hit my side. I was almost on the ground with him, but the gale seemed to have cleared both the path ahead _and_ my head. The huge swarming mass of shadow was gone, like smoke swept away with the wind, taking my headaches with it. I could think. I could move, I _ran_. I don’t remember running to his side, I just know I did, I had to.

And even with the spirit gone he was still- was still-

He was still.

Except for his chest. It was moving, slowly, up and down. I let out my own heavy breath in time with his. He was okay. He was just- just…

But he still wasn’t responding. I shook him lightly, called his name again, nothing. I looked around, for someone, anyone, _anything_ who could help. Where was Ponta? Wasn’t he supposed to protect him from this kind of thing?

And that was when I noticed it. Another presence. I hadn’t registered it before because I hadn’t felt any headaches, but there was definitely something behind me. And it was _huge_. It had the biggest one I’ve ever seen, even with the little of the blurry white mass as I could see. I cautiously shuffled my body between it and Natsume. I didn’t sense as much ill will from this spirit, but I wasn’t about to take any chances with him like this.

“I don’t know who or what you are, but please stay back. He’s hurt enough as it is.” I heard something faint, almost like… laughter? No, that couldn’t be right. I must have mishe-

“Tanuma…?” It was Natsume. He’d woken up! He was still lying on his back, and could barely keep his eyes open, but he was awake.

“Natsume! Are you alright?” He nodded lightly, smiling shyly, before looking behind me at something.

The spirit. I had to get him out of there.

“Please, just let us go peacefully, we don’t mean any harm.”

“Wait, Tanuma it’s-” Before Natsume could even finish the presence vanished into a puff of smoke. Literally. Where did it-

Wait… Was that-

No… 

“Ponta!?”

“Sensei…” Natsume whined from behind me. “Don’t scare Tanuma like that.”

“Hmph. It’s not my fault the simpleton can’t bear witness to my magnificent form.” The cat huffed. That’s right, the fat cat wasn’t his real form, was it? I wonder what he looks like…

I turned back to Natsume. “What happened? Are you sure you’re alright?” He tried to prop himself up with his arms, but was clearly struggling, so I pulled him up myself. He mumbled his thanks, before explaining. If you could call it that.

“I just had some minor spirit trouble, I’ll be alright.” He flashed one of his signature smiles at me. While trying to keep his eyes open at the same time.

“Minor, yeah. It might’ve been to begin with, you reckless brat. Until you went and let it completely drain you like a bath.” The cat yowled. “It’s a miracle even I was any match for it after the meal it had on you.” Completely drained?! I’d thought maybe it’d just overwhelmed him, not-

“Then why didn’t you stop it earlier if you knew it was so powerful?” Natsume turned his head around to snap back at the cat.

“The thing’s a puny small fry when it’s empty, I figured it’d probably finish _itself_ off before even you could mess it up.” Natsume’s sensei turned his head back towards me. “Now if we’re done here help the brat up and let’s go home. Touko’s making fish tonight. _Fish!”_ Natsume looked back at me, startled.

“You can’t just rope Tanuma into this! We don’t even know why he’s here!” He stared at me hesitantly. “Though uh, what actually are you doing here? School finished hours ago?”

“I got held up by one of the teachers, so I decided to take the short cut home. Then I sensed that spirit and found you.”

I could tell there was no way he’d be able to walk home on his own, and I could also tell by the look on his face he was about to insist that he _could_. “I don’t mind walking you home, and you’re definitely in no state to walk on your own.” He hesitated for a second.

“Ah- really, you don’t-” I looked him in the eye, and he sighed.

“I- If you really don’t mind, thank you.”

He put his arm around my neck and I pulled him to his feet. His legs were already shaking with just that. “Are you alright to walk like this?” I asked. He looked up and smiled.

“Yes. It’s fine.”

(It wasn’t.) 

We’d barely taken a step forward when I felt his arm slide off my shoulder. If I hadn’t already been holding onto his waist he probably would have hit the ground again. I was forced into an awkward half crouch trying to keep him as upright as possible.

“Natsume! Natsume can you hear me!” He wasn’t responding. I shook his shoulder, tapped his face, nothing was working. I turned to the cat. “Sensei, do something!” He just huffed.

“At this point waking him up’ll probably just drain him more.” He waddled towards Natsume, sniffing at him. “Just carry him. Shouldn’t be too hard for you, you’re clearly less of a bean sprout than he is.” I froze.

“C-carry him?” But Natsume’s so- hesitant with people. To be carried around by me, he would- “Wait, if your spirit form is so ‘magnificent’, couldn’t you carry him?” He just frowned.

“So you’d rather he show up unconscious on his doorstep with no explanation and a ‘cat’?” My chest twisted. How often did things like this happen to him? How many times had he ended up totally shattered and isolated, with just Ponta, maybe not even that? How many times had the Fujiwaras had to find him like this? Probably far more than I ever have, or will.

“Besides, the kid hates it when I carry him in my spirit form. Apparently being carried by a majestic beast such as myself is ‘horrifying’.” An image of a giant Ponta running through the forest carrying Natsume in his mouth like a kitten popped into my head, and if it had been any other situation I probably would have laughed.  
  
“It’s alright, I’ll carry him.”

* * *

Getting Natsume onto my back took a lot more effort than I’d thought. Three times I almost sent him flying backwards onto the ground. I’m just glad I managed to catch him each time, I can’t imagine what I would have done if I’d knocked him out even more.

By the time I was even half way to the Fujiwaras’ the sun was already setting. The town’s quiet enough as it is, and by then most of the people who would have been out were cooped up inside, so the streets were mostly deserted. The only sounds were Ponta’s little bell ringing as he walked next to me, and Natsume’s faint breathing, which I probably wouldn’t have even heard that if it wasn’t for his head resting right next to my ear. Other than the occasional murmur he was just as quiet as the town. Even Ponta didn’t say a word, just scanned around the streets, looking for all the spirits I couldn’t see.

Surprisingly, Ponta had been right. Carrying Natsume was actually fairly easy. He was lighter than I expected, even after having carried him in that tiny jar. Quite a lot lighter actually. To the point where I was almost concerned. Given how fat Ponta was, the Fujiwaras were definitely feeding him enough, and I’m no expert on weight, but I couldn’t help but wonder. Natsume rarely talked about the other families he stayed with, but from what I could gather, not all of them were as nice as the Fujiwaras (despite what Natsume insisted). But they wouldn’t have gone as far to not feed him, would they? Natsume probably just didn’t want to burden them and tried to eat as little as possible. But then why would he feel the need to do that in the first place?

Or he’s probably just naturally scrawny and I’m overthinking things.

The Fujiwara’s house was fast approaching, and my heart crawled into my throat. They were probably happily waiting at the dinner table, thinking he’s just running a little late. I hated being the one to shatter that. I’d hoped he’d have woken up by now, but he was still completely motionless in my arms. If this spirit had drained as much power as Ponta said it had…

“How long do you think he’ll be out for?” I asked him.

“Hmm? Oh he won’t be conscious again for at least another six hours.” I stopped in my tracks, almost jostling Natsume. “And even after he does wake up he’ll be pretty catatonic for at least the next few days, that spirit sucked him dry.” I hadn’t thought- I had no idea what I’d stepped into was that-

“Was it really that serious? Natsume acted like this was just a regular thing.”

“The kid passes out from all of his shenanigans all the time, but usually it’s from straining his own powers, he has at least some control. Having it sucked out by another spirit? If you hadn’t shown up when you did he’d probably be in a coma.”

A _COMA?!_

My whole body churned. The idea of him being that- that hurt… Made me feel sicker than any cold or illness I’d ever had before. But then I paused, there was something else about what he’d said. “Wait, me? What did I do?” If anything I probably just distracted Natsume and made things worse. “You crying out distracted the spirit. Apparently you have just enough power to draw its attention. It stopped draining the brat for a second, and I was able to attack it.” I helped? By just being there, I helped save his life? After the incident at the mansion I thought I was just hindering him but I, I really helped-

I stopped. I was at the Fujiwara’s door. Natsume’s light frame suddenly became twice as heavy in my arms. I couldn’t bring myself to knock, and only partially because my hands were full holding Natsume’s wiry legs. So Ponta yowled obnoxiously instead. I heard faint murmuring from inside as someone came for the door. “Ah, that must be Takashi now.” It was Touko. She sounded so _happy._

The door opened and she smiled, “Oh! Kana-” She just stopped, that same look of horror that Natsume had worn when he saw me branded on her face.

“Takashi!” She rushed towards me, taking his face in her delicate hands. “Oh no, is he alright? What happened?” She stared at me, pleading. Oh no, I should have thought of an explanation beforehand. What do I say?

“I- He’s alright, he just-”

“Touko, is something wrong?” It was Shigeru. “Kaname… Takashi!” He rushed over too, though not quite as close as Touko. “Quickly, we should get him to his room; you can explain everything once he’s there.” I nodded, walking past them through the door, but then I paused, looking at my feet.

“Ah, don’t worry about your shoes, it’s fine.” Touko quickly insisted. They’re so nice. I’m so sorry.

I followed them up to Natsume’s room, and managed to get him off my back onto his bed. The two of them were hovering over him, with Touko gently stroking his hair. I could no longer put off trying to explain all this. Mentioning him passing out in my arms would probably have freaked them out a bit too much, so I went for something slightly vaguer, “I was taking a shortcut home through the forest when I found him like this. It might’ve been anaemia, or maybe he hit his head, I don’t know.” The Fujiwaras gasped in unison.

“Oh no, goodness. It’s just like back then, isn’t it?” The hurt was clear in her eyes as she glanced at Shigeru. “He won’t need to go to hospital again, will he?”

Hospital? _Again!?_ When had he- it hadn’t gotten that bad before right?

Right…?

I know I shouldn’t have pried, Natsume hates talking about his past and if he didn’t want me to know then I shouldn’t but- but…

“Hospital?” I asked.

“Ah, Kaname,” Touko turned back to face me. “I suppose Takashi wouldn’t have mentioned that incident, would he?”

“No, not really. What- What happened? I- If you don't mind.” Touko glanced at Shigeru, who then nodded, starting.

“Right before we took him in, there was an- incident.”

“We don’t really know much about what happened, but he disappeared that night, and they found him at the bottom of a cliff in a nearby forest. Poor thing had to spend a week in hospital.” Touko continued, her voice cracking slightly towards the end.

I knew dealing with spirits was tough, but Natsume had always come out okay. At most he’d be exhausted, and sleep for a day or two but never… I had no idea it got this bad. A week, a whole week in hospital. Lying unconscious in a spirit filled forest for who knows how long. I’d assumed most of the worst stuff started when he moved here and found Ponta, but to think even before meeting his bodyguard he had to deal with this, when he was completely alone…

I looked outside, and suddenly realised how dark it was. My father was probably getting worried now, though at least I wasn’t going to show up unconscious on his doorstep.

“I should really get going, it’s pretty late.” I moved to get up.

“Kaname no, we couldn’t ask you to go back now, not after what’s happened.” Touko interrupted.

“We couldn’t bear it if something happened to you on the way back, it’s far too late. You’re more than welcome to stay the night here.” Shigeru continued.

“It’s fine, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“After all you’ve done for Takashi? Nonsense. And I’m sure he’d like to have a friend here when he wakes up.” I’d been friends with Natsume long enough to know Touko probably wasn’t going to let me leave, no matter what I said. And… I- I did want to stay. I wanted to know that he was okay. I just wasn’t sure if it was-

“If you insist, I guess. Can I borrow your phone to call my dad first?”

* * *

After finally managing to convince my father than yes, I was fine, _Natsume_ was the one who was unconscious, the Fujiwara’s insisted I share dinner with them, giving me the meal they’d prepared for Natsume. I felt kind of bad eating it, but he wasn’t exactly capable of eating it either. Though judging by the glare he was sending my way, I think Ponta had been hoping they’d give it to him.

They’d set up a spare futon in Natsume’s room, and I after watching him for a while, I eventually fell asleep. But it wasn’t more than a few hours before I was woken up again. I felt like I’d heard someone say my name, though whether it was a dream or not, I still don’t know. My eyes were still adjusting to the dark when I heard a faint gasp next to me.

Natsume.

Even in the dark I could see him bolt upright and look around frantically.

“Natsume, you’re awake!” For the second time that day, his head shot around and looked straight at mine. I figured he might be surprised to see me in his room, but not this surprised. He looked like he’d seen, well, for lack of a less crude analogy, a ghost. “Are you alright?” Then he smiled at me, genuinely smiled at me.

“I’m fine,” He wasn’t lying this time. Then the situation seemed to dawn on him.

“What… happened?” He frowned at me, confused.

“After that spirit drained you I was helping you walk back here, but you passed out on your feet.” He visibly winced.

“Sorry… Did Sensei bring me back here?”

“Actually, no I-uh carried you.” There was that shocked look again. At least what I saw of it before he buried his head in his hands.

“Oh god I’m so sorry, you didn’t have to do that, really.” I shuffled closer to him.

“Natsume it’s alright, I really don’t mind.” I opened my palms up in front of him. “I don’t mind carrying you for a while if it means you get home safe.” He lifted his hands and looked at me, his eyes wide.

“But not if it means _you_ don’t get home safe. What if a spirit had tried to take advantage of my weakness and attacked you?” He stiffened again. “That’s assuming they didn’t already…”

“Nothing attacked me, I was fine. Sensei was with me the entire time.”

“But-”

“Natsume, I’m not going to stop trying to help you when you’re in trouble. And I know you would’ve done the exact same thing if you were in my shoes.” He paused, hesitating.

“I know that, but I…” He trailed off, sighing. We probably do need to talk about his fears of involving us in this side of his life, but…

“At least you’d try to; you probably wouldn’t be able to carry me very far, given how much of a bean sprout you are.” Right now probably isn’t the best time.

“Hey, I’m not _that_ weak.” He snapped back, grinning.

 

“Though you really should go back to sleep, you must still be pretty exhausted.” I said. As much as I was enjoying the late night conversation, I could see his eyes starting to droop. But saying that seemed to freak him out even more.

“I- I don’t actually feel that tired, do you mind talking a bit longer?” Something in my expression must have given away my suspicions, because he immediately apologised.  
“No, you probably want to go to sleep too, don’t worry about it.” I would have just let him be, but he seemed so hesitant to go back to sleep, and thinking back to how frightened he’d been when he woke up, it was almost like he’d been surprised not that I was in his room, but that I was there at all.

Maybe I’m not the only one who dreams about what might happen to him in situations like this…

“No, if you want to talk that’s okay.” He looked relieved. “Actually after all that’s happened, there was something I was curious about.” And the relief was gone.

“I was wondering, what does Ponta look like? His spirit form I mean.” I gestured to the fat cat taking up the entirety of the pillow now that Natsume had lifted his head from it. “Because after today all I can picture is a giant pig cat running through the forest, fighting off spirits.”

Natsume paused.

And then he laughed, hysterically laughed, lighting up the room. “No, he- he doesn’t look _quite_ like that.” He replied, still grinning. He laid down on his side, propping his head on his arm instead of the now occupied pillow. “I can try to describe what he looks like.”

"He's a very big, menacing... Wolf? I think? About as big as this room. With long white fur, especially on his tail." He then gestured to his face. "And he has red markings around his eyes and forehead." He tilted his head towards the cat. "And despite how silly he looks like this he’s actually… Quite terrifying. He has a lot of very sharp teeth…” He seemed to grin nervously at the last description, and the image of Ponta carrying him around in his mouth suddenly became a lot less adorable. “He can fly too, but he doesn’t have wings. I’m not too sure how it works, I think it’s some kind of spirit thing…”

Trying to imagine this giant wolf was… difficult. It was hard getting the image of Ponta’s regular form out of my head. But seeing that hazy white shadow hovering over Natsume… It made it slightly more grounded. But the idea that Natsume hung around, even hugged something he described himself as terrifying, what kind of things had he seen?

Though now that he thought about it, he felt like Nishimura had mention something about a white wolf with red markings at some point. Maybe one of those video games he complains that his mother won’t let him play?

“I hope I get to see him in person one day.” He didn’t respond. Had I said something wrong? I wondered, looking back at him. And for the second time that day, my distracting Natsume had sent him to sleep. And hopefully helped him out, at least a little.

* * *

 I woke up early the next morning, partly due to nerves, and partly needing to get up in time to pop back home for school supplies. Natsume was sleeping like a log, having reclaimed his pillow from Ponta at some point in the night. He was normally a pretty light sleeper (at least in class anyway), but he didn’t even flinch when I got up. The Fujiwaras were already awake, milling about in the kitchen. They were thrilled to find out Natsume had woken up, so thrilled in fact that they insisted I stay for breakfast.

I was about to decline when a voice interrupted.

“Good morning!” Touko and Shigeru’s heads both whipped around.

“Takashi!” Natsume was standing at the entrance to the kitchen, his body as shaky as his smile and his voice. Touko immediately rushed over to him, followed closely by Shigeru.

“Ah! What are you doing, you should be resting!” Touko cried, gently pushing Natsume back towards the stairs. He put his hands up in defense.

“I’m fine, I feel much better now.” Touko put her hands on his face, ignoring him.

“Oh dear you’re so pale. Come on, back to your room.” She wasn’t wrong, just looking at the contrast between the colour of Touko’s hands and his face was enough to see that. He looked ready to collapse any second. I still wonder how he even got down the stairs like that…

“But I-”

“A day of rest will do you some good, Takashi. We don’t want you passing out again.” Shigeru continued, as Touko guided the younger boy up to his room.

“But school I-” I interrupted this time.

“I’ll come by this afternoon and give you today’s notes.” Natsume sighed, finally heeding Touko’s orders. Despite his protests though, he was still smiling, and genuinely.

I’m not sure what kind of things he must have been put through up until now, even after now, and I’ll probably never get the full story.

But-

If it got him here, to a point where he could smile like this, after all that’s happened…

It was probably worth it.


End file.
